Blogging Abroad

So you are packing up and heading out for a trip, and want some laid back joints for the flight. That’s awesome, but did your know your iPod can do way more for you than serenade your ear drums?

1. Learn a language:

The latest version of iTunes allows you to download educational podcasts that can teach you the language of your destination. This is basically passive learning, just download, and throw those white buds in your ears. Listen to these on the flight over and you’ll be asking for the bathroom and ordering water like a local in no time. Best of all it’s free!

2. Familiarize yourself with your destination:

Also in the world of podcasting are destination guides. As a traveler I’m sure you have all heard of lonely planet and know the quality of their advice. Well they produce a comprehensive podcast also, download these and you will know what the real deal is in your new host country. These guides and reviews sometimes have real insider information that can’t be attained anywhere else. These are iTunes freebies as well, so freeload that’s what they are there for. Another noteable source for tour guides is iToors.

3. Record your experience:

Make a podcast of your own and email it to your friends back home or post it on your website. The iPod has accessory microphones that you can pick up for about $20. These mikes will allow you to capture sounds anywhere you go, whether it’s the hustle and bustle of a Hong Kong market or the sweet calming waves crashing in Byron Bay Australia.

4. Store your shots:

Running low on memory card space and don’t want to delete any of those precious memories? Just get the photo cable and you can use your iPod as an external hard drive, making room for more of your memories to be captured.

5. Pack a map:

You can upload subway maps from all over the world to your iPod so you won’t be a lost tourist at the subway station. iPodSubwayMaps.com has come with a free download that enables you to get the maps on to your iPod.

PS Don’t forget to pack your charger!

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Do you ever think back on your travels and have one place that was the ultimate destination? One peak traveling experience that keeps you wanting more and more? I do, it was a hill trek in the northern jungles of Thailand. The place was nice and the food was amazing, but what really made this trip extra ordinary was the people.

We were all in the same situation, backpackers who had been drinking cheap SangSom Thai whiskey in Bangkok, now up in the remote north. The rain poured the first day, and the thin dirt paths we followed transformed in to heavy orange mud with veins of water flowing in the opposite direction we were headed.

After a grueling first day, the first day of any strenuous exercise many of us eight backpackers had done in months, we arrived at a small camp with two huts, a fireplace, a table and a small river that was flowing about 15 paces away. That night after a freezing dip in the river we sat down, feeling accomplished and deserving of our grub. We talked around a candle for a few hours, but headed to bed early, both because we needed the sleep to recharge after today and we would need our rest for tomorrow.

The next morning we woke up and began the trek in single file following our knowledgeable leader Mr. Sack. The sun was out and the air was fresh. We followed him a much further distance this day, taking few breaks. The fauna was lusher as we were deeper in the jungle, or maybe everything just seemed more vibrant and green because of the rain the day before, and the bright sun that was out. We followed Mr. Sack to a small hill tribe village in the middle of the jungle. The village was situated in a valley; green rice paddocks grew in the distance at the base of the bordering hill. The village roads were orange dirt, and the dwellings simple huts rose above the ground.

Before we could rest, a group of local young men approached our group of trekkers and said to meet them over there, as they pointed towards a hill. We were not sure what to expect, but Mr. Sack urged us to join them and bring water. So we replenished our water and began walking through tiny dirt alleys and between houses with a few village dogs now following us. We had walked about 200 meters when we saw what the local young men were talking about. It was a soccer pitch on the outskirts of the village. An orange dirt pitch, it was flat and bordered by makeshift seating on one side and a rice paddock on the other. The villagers were kicking around the ball and urged us to join them. We played a game, the trekkers vs. the villagers. We got killed 11-1, but I blame that on being tired from the trek, and them having home field advantage.

Playing in this soccer game was the best experience I have ever had traveling.

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After weeks of looking around for the perftect point and shoot camera I found it! Countless hours were spend over at dpreview.com tallying up the pros and cons of the small digital camera heat. One camera stood out from the beginning due to a friend’s recommendation, the Fuji Film F30.

The F30 is about the size of a deck of cards, and it packs plenty of tricks. This 6.3 mega pixel camera has a wolloping 3200 iso level. The higher the iso level the better and more natural your low light shots come out. I am now the proud owner of the F30 and bring it with me everywhere.

This camera is the size where you can put it in your pocket and not miss any shots. The pics that I’ve taken are miles and miles better than my two year old kodak easyshare camera. If you are in the market for a point and shoot for your trip save yourself the time of researching and go snap this bad boy up!

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Hey everyone thanks for continuing to read!

Just thought I would let everyone know that Cathay Pacific is offering a deal where you can visit any of the 23 major airports in Asia over a 20 day period for only $1599 Canadian $. This is a smoking deal if you want to visit a few countries and don’t have the time for rail or bus. With this pass you could check out Thailand for a few days, head over to Cambodia, even see some of China and its up and coming economy! I loved Thailand and every chance I see for deals heading over that way I will let you all know. Here is the link to this All Asia Pass. Check it out and keep up the comments;)

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Hey everyone long time no post from me. Firstly thanks everyone who continues to read, comment and write me. I plan on bringing you at least one post per week from here on in, except in hellish mid term weeks like the one I just got over. School has been going well, but it’s a lot of work.

I’ve been day dreaming about where to go next in class at least once a day. Where I would go, what I would do and what kind of pictures and stories I could bring home and post here. I’ve started to think about going back to South East Asia this summer, possibly Vietnam or even back to Thailand. The biggest restriction is the funds, I need to save up at a regular old student job for the first 3 months of summer, then on the last month go away without spending all of the summer savings.

Where would you go if you wanted to get away for 4 weeks and had a budget of say $2500-$3000 USD? I’d love to hear about ideas, as well as past trips that fit in to this category!

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Hey everyone, I’m back at school this week. I want to keep this site up to date and hope to have regular updates and new and excellent articles for you all. However I do know that school eats up more time than I expect every year. So here’s the deal:

I would like to have another person who loves to travel and has a thing for writing to give me a hand with this site. Drop me a comment and I’ll get back to you if you think blogging about travel/ tech gear is for you!

Casey

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I tend to waste time when I’m sitting down at the computer “working”. I look around and surf the net quite a bit, and I want to share my 3 favorite sites that are semi related to travel. If you are a travel blogger these sites will probably appeal to you as well!

Flickr: Flickr is the new kid on the block in the photo hosting world. You can upload all your travel shots here while traveling which is an awesome feature. You can also look at other people’s photos of destinations or just anything and everything. There are some very talented photographers on this site, and tons of regular old pic snappers.

If you have digital travel photos I suggest signing up for flickr and uploading them, people can view and comment on your pics so you can get a bit of feedback and be part of the community. You can also add your backpacker or travel photos to different groups. A group is like a pool of photos where each member of the group can add their own photos to the pool. I set up a group for Blogging Abroad, so come and drop some of yours in our group. If you have any and you are on flickr or sign up for flickr, come by and let us all see some of your shots!

Here’s my flickr account, feel free to add me as a friend!

43 Places: What are your top 43 destinations you would like to visit? Why not make a list and start adding to that list, and check them off when you visit your choice locals, let others around the world know where you have been as well and see who else has been there. Read reviews and see pictures generated by a community.

These are all the functions of one of my favorite time wasting site www.43places.com (they also have www.43things.com ). I have been on here for a few months just adding away slowly I now have 7 places I want to visit, but don’t get me wrong I want to go everywhere.

Check out my profile and comment if you are up to it!

Gmail: Google’s email service that pretty much kicks the crap out of the other free email services out there. You get more than 2 gigs of space so you never really have to delete anything and you can search through your emails with google’s powerful search tools.

The spam filter catches all those penis pill and other junk spam, which saves you the headache of sorting it out yourself.

What are your favorite sites out there that are in someway, or not at all related to travel? I’d love to hear about them.

Casey

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Do you have a travel blog that you want to share with the world? Do you want more hits, more impressions and more money from your blog? Then you have to promote your blog around the web. There are plenty of ways to get links coming in to your blog:

1. Put your link in your signature on forums you participate at. If the sites are travel related then you should get a steady stream of visitors trickling in everyday.

2. Submit your site to blog directories, this is a great way to get a higher ranking in google searches as well. Here are a few directories you should submit your site to:
Our travel blog directory
http://dir.blogflux.com/cat/travel.html
http://www.theblogresource.com/travel/

3. Start spreading the word to everyone you know and put your link in your messenger name and in your email signature as well. You are sure to spark the interest in many blog lovers!

Casey

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You are in for a treat with this week’s blog! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel through out South Korea? How the food would taste or the people would dress? Lao-Ocean girl writes about her time in Korea with a unique spin that will have you first scrolling though all the awesome photos, and then going back to read about each one!

Go over to Lao Ocean Girl’s blog today and see for yourself a first class weblog from abroad!

Casey

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You have made the decision to put your life on hold. No more boss breathing down your neck to get your work done, or no papers due or exams to stress over. You are going to drop all that and get the best experience of your life bouncing around the globe seeing what our world has to offer; and you want to share your traveling tales and photos with all of us on the world wide web.

What are you going to need to do this?

1. A camera: Get a camera that you are comfortable with, something that is capable of capturing all the new sights you see and something that you actually will carry around with you. There is no point in getting a $3000 SLR camera if you don’t know how you use it and it’s too big for you comfortably carry around all day!

2. Laptop: Get a good portable laptop that you can use as your communication home base. Smaller the better, lugging around a 17” wide screen laptop isn’t going to be something you look forward to. 12-14” laptops are perfect for travel, they have all the features of their larger counterparts. A laptop is not necessary if you are going to be able to post from internet cafes.

3. An open mind: If you travel the world you are going to realize that the whole world doesn’t have all the niceties that you may be accustomed to. There is nothing worse than reading a blog dedicated to complaining about everything from a bad smell in the air to non English speaking Mcdonalds workers. So before you get over where ever you are going, keep an open mind and by all means comment on these differences.

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